The Real Black Mask Boys

This rare photo of the First West Coast Black Mask Get-Togetheron January 11, 1936 captures possibly the only meeting of several of these authors, mostly members of The Fictioneers, an informal group of West Coast pulp writers. Pictured in the back row, from left to right, areRaymond J. Moffatt, Raymond Chandler, H.H. Stinson, Dwight Babcock, Eric Taylor and Dashiell Hammett (on a West Coast visit). In the front row, again from left to right, are Arthur Barnes(?), John K. Butler, W. T. Ballard, Horace McCoy and Norbert Davis. It’s apparently the only known time Chandler and Hammett actually met.

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks to John Apostolou and Tadié Benoît for their help with this, and to the Joseph T. Shaw Papers (Collection 2052). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA. The photographer, alas, is unknown.